Unbelievably, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland.com has a 9 page on-line article about eating your way across the Lincoln Highway in Ohio – Savoring the Lincoln Highway, Where diners serve a mean apple pie and the little towns are sweet, by Michael Sangiacomo:
http://xrl.us/2tgc
[I wonder where he got that idea? Maybe great minds just think alike or great stomachs! :)]
Tom Lockard has some more suggestions for my Ohio LH Eats:
Hi Russ – I enjoyed your latest LH E-newsletter, but wish I had sent in some Ohio roadfood suggestions before you published your list, rather than after the fact. I’ll pass them along now, though, for the benefit of your hungry readers.
- The Orchard Tree, Van Wert – If you happen to pass through Van Wert on a Monday, (as I have recently twice) Balyeat’s is closed.This place is on the left just a bit further west of downtown and it is open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There’s a breakfast special for $3.89, almost all of the sandwiches are under $4.00 and dinner entrees are less than $10.00.
- B & Mary’s Diner, Canton – Formerly the City Diner, a genuine Kullman Diner built in Newark, NJ and first opened in Canton in 1958. Before it became B & Mary’s, business had slowed considerably, but the last time I was there the joint was jumping. Still much of the same diner food we all love, but since the new owners are African-American, some great barbeque is now on the menu.
- Nicole’s Family Restaurant, East Canton – This is my wife’s favorite place along the Ohio LH, primarily for their delicious broasted chicken (breast, leg, thigh and wing for only $6.99). They usually host at least one classic car cruise-in a year and are good LH supporters. Closed Monday.
- Al Smith’s Place, Bucyrus – A popular place for Sunday dinner, this family restaurant features such “house specialties” as roast beef
dinners and roasted turkey dinners complete with three sides for $8.70. Their hand-dipped onion rings (enough for two) are not to be missed at $6.15. If you have enough room, try any number of delicious homemade pies. There’s a nice adjoining motel in case you are too full to continue your LH journey.- Oak Park Tavern, Mansfield – A hidden gem between Mansfield and Mifflin near the Charles Mill Dam and an occasional monthly meeting destination for the Mid-Ohio chapter of the Lincoln Highway League. There’s always a good seafood selection in the $12 – $16 range and a wide array of steaks.
I could go on, but will stop for now. As for Indiana, I’ll await your list in the next newsletter, but will pass along one place in Warsaw that you have probably checked out – Schoop’s, Hamburgers since 1948. This is one of those retro diners, but the food is good, plentiful and inexpensive. It sits on the north side of the current Route 30 where it is joined by an earlier LH alignment. There’s a “jumbo” pork tenderloin sandwich for $4.35.
Mike Hocker, Executive Director of the Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway reports – Earlier Lincoln Highway Routes Now Being Marked:
When ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) designated the Ohio portion of the Lincoln Highway, America’s first coast-to-coast road, as an historic Ohio byway, it made sense to mark the 1928 route. This was the route that was last placed by the national Lincoln Highway Association, a group of private businessmen who’d seen the need for a transcontinental paved road to encourage the government to pay more attention to the motorcar as a way of transportation for the future. But there were earlier and alternate routes that existed that were equally as significant to the impact the road had on developing the auto economy of the U.S.
For the past two years, the OLHHC (Ohio Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor) in conjunction with the Ohio Chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association has been working with ODOT and all other levels of government to place one hundred logo signs with an added date sign below that expresses the year or years the alignment existed, and also includes directional arrows. If you see a Lincoln Highway logo sign with a surrounding brown field that contains the word “historic,” it will be ODOT’s designated byway, that of the 1928 route. But soon you will see red, white and blue Lincoln Highway logo signs with a smaller white sign mounted below on the earlier routes.
With the third annual BUY-WAY Yard Sale coming up August 9 through 11, we are hoping to have all the signs installed to help travelers find their way shopping across the state. Most of these alternate routes will be having yard sale events, so there is the opportunity for shoppers to travel more than one route from point A to point B… or at least travel one route going, and the other route returning from their travels.
As an example, the route from Mansfield east to Ashland via US Route 42, (on US 250 through Rowsburg and New Pittsburg to Jefferson) is not part of the 1928 route, but was the official highway from its inception in 1913 until the association’s last action in 1928, which moved the route to SR 430 and old Route 30 (now 30A) via Mifflin, Hayesville, Jeromesville, and to Jefferson.
Another example: the route from Mansfield westward originally traveled along SR 309 to Galion and entered Bucyrus along Hopley Avenue until about 1921, when it was moved to exit Mansfield along West Fourth Street, go through Crestline, Leesville and on to Bucyrus via the recent two-lane US 30 (now C. R. 330) into Bucyrus.
And the route from Upper Sandusky westward originally traveled along SR 53 and SR 81 through Forest, Dunkirk, Dola and Ada until about 1919, but passed through Lima and Elida along SR 309 to Delphos in the early days (until about 1915). By 1919 it was moved to the present day 2 lane U.S. 30 and through Williamstown, Beaverdam, Cairo and Gomer.
The OLHHC thanks ODOT and the county, city, village and townships who will be installing these signs. By marking these earlier routes the public will be better educated about the history of the highway, and will be able to enjoy more of the paths that early motorists once traveled.
Wooster, OH’s Lincoln Re-enactor Pete Raymond keeps busy, from the Daily-Record.com:
http://www.the-daily-record.com/news/article/2027291
From the Ada Herald is an article about the 13th annual meeting of the Ohio Lincoln Highway League in May:
http://xrl.us/2tdm
Janet Jones from Main Street Van Wert Inc. reports:
Thought you might want to know about anther LH corridor project – this one in Van Wert, Ohio, just east of Fort Wayne. Van Wert is applying for Transportation Enhancement dollars to help with our Main Street streetscape project. We have not received our drawings yet but should have them soon, but this will give you an idea of what we are planning.
First Main Street is Lincoln Highway. At the new ADA curbs we will be inlaying the Lincoln Highway logo. We are looking at several different materials.We discussed tinted cement or engraved granite inlay or a bronze plaque inlay. In this phase it will be at all four corners of the 3 major intersections. Our benches and trash receptacles will have the L in wrought iron on them.
In our second phase, we are planning to install several of the wrought iron arches which went over Main Street in 1900. These arches will incorporate both Van Wert and the Lincoln Highway.
Please know that all of this will be done with taste and will maintain the integrity of the Lincoln Highway.
— Jane A. Jones, Program Manager
